Lot

People100In Genesis, we are introduced to Lot in essentially the same place we meet Abraham. Background information for these two men and their relatives appears in Genesis 11:27-32. Terah was father to Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Lot was the son of Abraham’s brother Haran, and thus Abraham’s nephew. Haran died in Ur of the Caldeans during Terah’s lifetime. Terah left Ur with his family and traveled to the land of Haran, where he died, leaving his family members Abraham, Sarah, and Lot. Thus closes Genesis 11.

At the beginning of Genesis 12, God called Abraham to leave the land where he was residing and to go to a land that He—God—would show him. Abraham obeyed God, taking Sarah with him, of course; and taking Lot with him as well. Lot went with Abraham from Haran in Mesopotamia to Canaan; then he went with him to Egypt and returned with him to Canaan (see Gen. 12:4-5, 10; 13:1). The relationship of these two during this time seems to be characterized by congenial fellowship.

Genesis 13:1-13 reports that a after Abraham and Lot returned to Canaan, a conflict developed between Abraham’s and Lot’s herdsmen. It’s clear that Lot was an adult by this time. Both men were wealthy, and the land could not support the families and possessions of both. Keep in mind that in this agrarian culture, possessions included many animals. Abraham resolved the conflict by letting Lot choose the land on which he would settle. Abraham’s nephew “looked out and saw the entire Jordan Valley as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the LORD’s garden and the land of Egypt.…So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abraham lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the valley and set up his tent near Sodom” (vv. 10-12). Yet “the men of Sodom were evil, sinning greatly against the LORD” (v. 13). Lot’s choice would haunt him in the future.

Lot was taken captive when Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, along with the kings of three other nations, waged war and emerged victorious over the king of Sodom (where Lot lived) and four of his allies. Upon hearing this news, Abraham assembled 318 of his men. Together they confronted Lot’s oppressors and rescued Lot from them (see Gen. 14). Later, when God was on the verge of destroying Sodom because of its citizens’ wickedness, angels paid Lot a visit and urged him to leave the city to avoid the destruction that soon would come. Lot pleaded to be allowed to escape to a city named Zoar. He and his family were permitted to do so, but Lot’s wife looked back on the destruction besieging Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt. (Abraham had prayed for Sodom in Genesis 18:16-33.) Later, Lot’s two daughters, concerned that they should have heirs, arranged to get their father drunk two nights in a row. The older and younger daughters took turns sleeping with him. They became pregnant and gave birth to the fathers of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples, respectively (see Gen. 19).

Despite his faults, Lot is described as “righteous” by Peter in 2 Peter 2:7-8. Peter wrote that “as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (v. 8). The term godly in verse 9 also is, by implication, descriptive of Lot.

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